Cassandra Wilson revives 'Blue Light 'Til Dawn'

I recently spoke to the world's greatest singer. That's what Bob Dylan, T Bone Burnett and Time magazine have called Cassandra Wilson, who made her name in the 1980s as jazz's heir apparent to Betty Carter, then changed course, drastically. She's done that more than once, finally reaching her zone of comfort by folding folk, R&B and country music into her kit, along with acoustic blues and other musical signs of her Southern roots.

"Blue Light 'Til Dawn," produced by Craig Street and released on Blue Note Records in 1994, was the album with which she opened herself up, bringing in all those influences. Now she's taken her band on the road for a 20th anniversary "Blue Light 'Til Dawn" tour, which arrives next week in Santa Cruz, Oakland and San Francisco.

Wilson phoned from her Harlem apartment to talk about her music. Her speaking voice is a lot like her singing voice: leisurely and rich as molasses.

Q Cassandra, the title of the album -- "Blue Light 'Til Dawn" -- seems to express the mood of your music, in general. Through the years, it's always felt very nocturnal to me, twilight-ish and in between things.

A Wow (pause). I never thought about that. But that's my time. I used to do astrology; there are so many kinds of readings that you can do on your personality. But I come to life right in that space, right between 2 and 6 o'clock in the morning. I was born at 8:30 a.m., so maybe that's what's happening. I was preparing to come into the world.

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Q Why are you dusting off this 20 year-old album?

A Honestly I don't remember whose idea it was. While we were on tour, several people were mentioning, "Hey! Twenty years since 'Blue Light 'Til Dawn.' Why don't you do a tour?" I didn't even know it'd been two decades. I don't keep track of time; watches die on me.

Q But you were open to the idea.

A I thought it was great to go back into the material as the same meeting place for all the musicians: "Let's just dive back into it, and let's see what else has happened and what kinds of other interpretations we can bring into the music."

Q You and Brandon Ross, your guitarist, seemed to have a real connection on that album.

A Brandon and I have known each other for about 20 years; I met him right before "Blue Light." We have a synergy that is kind of crazy; it's beautiful. He inspires me.

Q What's the synergy?

A Love of the guitar, and using that as the motor. Initially, my guitar playing -- as raggedy as it was -- was the impetus for his arrangements. I'd come up with these tunings, and he'd listen to them and create these beautiful landscapes around this shack (laughter). That's all I do, is create shacks.

Q You did a Stylistics tune on "Blue Light." You did Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey." Craig Street pushed you with that album; it was really something different for you.

Vocalist Cassandra Wilson. Sacks & Co.
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Sacks & Co.
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A It was a very serious, eye-opening, mind-blowing experience. I gave myself permission to be me.

Q I read that you're about to do a Billie Holiday project. Have you begun recording it?

A Not yet. I'm just listening. I'm listening to a lot of things, everything -- trying to pinpoint those places where she was most herself.

Q Which was where?

A Well, the earlier recordings when she's just stepping inside of it -- those are magic. And the very last recording is magical. People tend to look at Billie as a tragic figure, and they miss the most important contribution that she made: She was able to transfer the language of the instrument to the language of the voice, and this is what she learned from Louis Armstrong. And this is what she learned from Prez (saxophonist Lester Young) and from that whole world of musicians that she hung out with. She spoke their language.

Q I think you're kind of like Billie or Miles Davis. You're into savoring a note, stretching a sound or a mood. Do you agree?

A Yes, I think I come from that school of musicians where it's economy, and you don't need to sing a whole bunch of notes to impart an emotion.

Q You were talking about finally being able to be yourself. You're from Jackson, Miss., and "Blue Light" felt very Southern.

A I will always be a Southern woman. There's great beauty in that world. There's a certain kind of leisurely pace.

I'd been in New York so many years, and I'd been studying, and I was just growing tired. It's very difficult in New York when you have to run so much, and you have to do so much, and you're talking so fast. It's difficult. It was great to just relax, breathe and bring my guitar out.

Q I've been reading about your Southern upbringing, and about your grandmother. She's not around anymore, but is she still your touchstone?

A She is everything. She is my rock. She's my way back, you know, to Africa. I was thinking about this the other day. I don't think my grandmother spoke English very well. I think we must've come over very late in the slave trade out of Haiti and through New Orleans. I mean, she spoke English, but it was kind of difficult to understand her sometimes. She was a very mysterious woman, a healer and a follower of the old religion.

Q Are you like her?

A Yeah. She had a traveling bug. She traveled a lot in Mississippi, from city to city. She did not work as a domestic; she refused to do that. So she picked blackberries, made a living picking blackberries, and also working with chickens.

Q Are you the same in terms of the wanderlust, the independence?

A Yes, having to travel to be independent.

Q What's the effect of being on the road for so many years? For instance, this tour takes you to Finland and Estonia. Does all that traveling connect you to your roots, or does it make your roots more tenuous?

A It makes you feel more grounded, I think, because you're fortunate enough to go out in the world and see other people and see how they live, and then you get to compare. You see all these beautiful places all around the world, but then there's nowhere like your home. I think it gives you a deeper appreciation of who you are.